This invention relates generally to the containment of hazardous material in an enclosure, and, more particularly to the attraction and detainment of pathogen agents disposed in or on mail pieces or airborne pathogen particles in a collection box.
The possibility of using postal services or delivery services to release pathogen agents has been demonstrated. Unsuspecting recipients can be harmed by the release of such pathogen agents. Equally at risk are those handling the mail pieces or the packages to be delivered. There appears to be no current security devices or procedures that are available to intercept such mail pieces at the earliest source of introduction into the delivery system, for example at the collection box or post office drop box.
Mail collection boxes commonly found on street corners pose a potential risk to mail carriers and customers. Once a single contaminated mail piece enters the collection box, all mail pieces deposited can be exposed to particles of contamination that have been released from the mail piece into the surrounding air. Thereby, mail carriers can be exposed to airborne pathogen particles when they perform their duties of picking up the mail. Therefore, it is desirable to reduce or preferably capture and retain airborne particles of pathogen agents from collection box atmosphere including the mail tub and chamber.
Additionally, airborne pathogen particles pose a risk to customers each time they open a mail slot of the mailbox to deposit mail. The opening and closing of the mail slot causes air to circulate within the collection box. Air circulation could agitate the pathogen agents laying dormant in the mail tub or affixed to the walls, floor, or other internal components of a collection box and agitate these airborne particles already in the collection box atmosphere. The dormant pathogen particles may become loose and float freely in the air circulating within the collection box and migrate to the collection box mail chute, thereafter pathogen agents can be released into the outside environment in the presence of the customer. Therefore, it is desirable to substantially eliminate the release of pathogen agents circulating in the air within a collection box through the collection box chute to the outside atmosphere.